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  • Country ranking ?

    80
  • Producer ranking ?

    1
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2022
  • Food Pairing

    Roasted Lamb

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The Story

Vieux Chateau Certan is one of Pomerol's oldest and most exalted estates, having produced wine since at least the mid 1740s. On the Belleyme Map, published in 1785, the property was listed as "Sertan" and was owned by the Demays, a family of established Bordeaux negociants. A century later, ownership passed to a banker, Charles de Bousquet, who sold it to George Thienpont in 1924.

The family diversified in 1979 when Marcel and Gérard Thienp...

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Wine Information

2016 Bordeaux in Review / “A Once in a Lifetime Vintage”

By Andrew Caillard MW

The 2016 Bordeaux vintage will be remembered as one of the great years of the 21st Century. I have not been so excited about the prospects of such young wines since the remarkable back-to-back 2009 and 2010 vintages. At that time China was at the zenith of its extraordinary fine wine ascendency where the very top estates, particularly Chateau Lafite, had becom...

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Vintage 2016

2016 Bordeaux in Review  “A Paradox”

by Andrew Caillard MW

The 2016 Bordeaux vintage will be remembered as one of the great years of the 21st Century. I have not been so excited about the prospects of such young wines since the remarkable back-to-back 2009 and 2010 vintages. At that time China was at the zenith of its extraordinary fine wine ascendency where the very top estates, particularly Chateau Lafite, had become a baksheesh curren...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

20 tasting notes

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Written Notes

Vieux Château Certan 2016 displays a deep, ruby hue of exceptional intensity and reveals aromas of black fruit and Royal Ann cherries. With opulent Merlot, the wine rolls over the tongue. The balance between freshness and concentration is superb. Velvety, seductive and flavoursome, this wine exhibits all the traits of a great, long-ageing vintage.

Vieux Chateau Certain - Like walking into a plum orchard where you also find espresso, almonds, fresh flowers, red and black plums and dark cocoa. The fragrance starts the show, but it is on the palate, with all its sexy, silky, sensuous, velvety textures, this is hedonism at its best. The voluptuous palate presence and the purity of the fruits in the finish is heart-stopping! The wine is a blend of 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. 100 Pts

  • 100p

Deep colour. A brilliant wine with all the high floral notes and the bass richness of a classic Vieux Chateau Certan. Typically, it is Intense with musky violet, dark plummy morello cherry blackcurrant fruits and integrated dark chocolate oak notes. Fresh sweet dark plummy flavours, supple and soft flowing textures, perfectly ripe beautiful fine savoury tannins and silky fruit complexity. A touch cacao-bitter sweet with really superb mineral length at the finish. Understated power and concentration with lovely balance and vigour. Delicious to drink now - always something of an indicator. Tasted at Vieux Chateau Certan. 99 points 

  • 99p

A great wine with dark purple red, violet hue and black core. Elegant nose with aroma reminiscent of blackberries, ripe plums and peonies as well as violets, very elegant spiciness in the background. Impressive taste, opulent yet elegant, massive but velvety tannins, sweet fruit, excellent flavour of flowery nuances and ripe fruit. Great depth, length and precision. The "home run" of the Thienpont family. 98+

  • 98p
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Information

Origin

Pomerol, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Inside Information

Wine Advocate-Parker :
The 2016 Vieux Château Certan is blended of 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep garnet-purple in color, it leaps from the glass with pristine, vivid notions of candied violets, chocolate-covered cherries, blackberry compote and mulberries with fragrant touches of raspberry leaves, crushed rocks, licorice, cumin seed and yeast extract plus a waft of red roses. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully elegant, the palate builds from a quiet intensity to an incredibly well-sustained aria of crunchy red and black cherries notes plus tons of floral undertones, framed by exquisitely soft yet firm tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long with lingering mineral and floral sparks. How does this 2016 compare to the also amazing 2015 vintage? Stylistically they are very different, as my notes on each should convey, but beyond this I am struck by the incredible harmony and seamlessness of the 2016 along with its amazing depth and energy this year. Bravo!

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